A Complete Interior Redesign at London’s Barbican Estate

At the Barbican in the City of London we’re helping a professional couple to carry out a full interior refurbishment of their apartment in Shakespeare Tower. It’s a great location in the centre of London, but the interior was in need of a redesign and refresh.

Works are well underway now and this is such an exciting time for our clients, who are now seeing all of our interior design work transforming their London home, following the initial demolition works of course:

As well as all of the interior design, we’ve taken away the hassle of permissions, handling all of the property consents which are so common for London refurbishments. This included Barbican Estate permission as well as Listed Building Consent, and liaising with the City of London to secure both of these.

The apartment was last decorated in the 1990s so the interior looking was quite rather tired, and some of the modernist touches of the original design were removed at that time with some period-style features introduced. Part of our design brief was to return the feel of the apartment to the clean lines and striking appearance of the original – but that’s not to mean a recreation of the 1970s original. We can recreate that look and feel while introducing the contemporary finishes and mod-cons that would befit any central London apartment.

It’s interesting to look back at the original presentation in our studio last year. With the clients we explored together a wide range of finishes and materials:

We presented a large pallette from which we could mix and select to achieve the look and style we desired:

The colours and interior finishes we selected will bring the flat right up-to-date, while being sympathetic to the unique aesthetic of this location. The context and the history of the Barbican Estate are very important to this property, and it was important for these to influence the redesign of the interior, but not to limit the use of anything contemporary in the new look and feel.

We’re using some fantastic finishes and fittings to transform the clients’ home, and I’ll show more as the project progresses.